> Life Struggles
>  by hillbilly_andy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> the begining
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Life Struggles.
I guess I’ll start out with who I am and a little about me, my name is Andy, I’m White but have some Indian in me, 24 years old, I’m 6’3, Ex-Army and I live here in Boulder Wyoming on my 60 acre farm that I work. Our farm is kind of in the middle of nowhere, up in the middle of the mountains, damn near a 30 minute drive just to get to a paved road. I love it, couldn’t think of another place that I would rather be. There’s not much for tech here, and that’s the way I like it. Most urban technology scares the shit out of me, did my dad to. That’s why he had a bunker built under the farm cabin and loaded down with anything and everything you can think of. Everything from water and air filtration systems all the way to 50 Cals, RPG’s, and rad suits. Mounds of ammunition for each weapon. just, don't ask, we have our ways. Yaaaa... He was paranoid, but we all were... for good reason to.
Me and my grandfather Rod, are all that’s left of my family. My grandmother died when I was young and most of my cousins had died in weird unexplained accidents. My brothers Jake and Vern died a few years back from the military. My sister and her children all drowned in a lake from an unfortunate car accident. My Mother and Father… they just passed away recently. My ma had thyroid cancer and it killed her last year. My Dad quickly joined her after an accident on an icy road and a Mac truck went head on into incoming traffic. That all happened right after I was given a medical discharge from the military. Said my mind wasn’t right, and  it wasn’t, probably still isn’t but oh well. Now, the only things I have left are… myself, pictures, the vehicles, unfinished chores, the critters on the farm and my granddad. 
To me, there is nothing else more important than family and the ones you love. Friends… that’s a different story, I’ve never been good at making friends, especially after my parents died. Don’t talk much, really only if I have to or If I have something to say, but im more of an action kind of person. Always been a scraper, a damn good one too, one of the best, never had a problem putting the hurt of someone. But animals have always been my soft spot.
I’ve always been partial to animals, I can talk to them easier, they don’t judge or hate and they don’t lie and are always there for you. They are pure. I’ve learned how to read animals, what they want, and things like that. A lot of it is about watching them, their body language and just showing them some kindness and trust. Ha, I spend so much time with them and the animals in the woods that many people think that I’m strange and stay away, or give me strange looks when we go into town for something. Many say I’m not right in the head, and they are probably right, but who cares. Fuck em. Me, I’m ok with that, I’d prefer to be left alone with the animals. In my mind, the only thing people are good for is target practice. Now don’t get the wrong idea about me, I’m no tree hugging, animal fucker. But I prefer to be with my animal friends than people. Yea, I know living on a farm means I have to slaughter hogs, and chickens and that kind of stuff, I also hunt. But it’s different, I eat it, I kill for food, for sustenance. For without it, we wouldn’t make it up here in the mountains, besides, who doesn’t love bacon? My grandpa always says, “Give back to mother nature as she gives to you my son, if you respect her and her creatures you’ll all get along great.”
But enough about that, I’ll tell ya how I came to be home, back on the farm.
I was currently an MP in the military, recently demoted, stationed in fort benning Georgia. It was one year ago when I got that call, that one call that changed me forever. I was getting dressed, getting ready to head out to check in with base and start my shift when my cell phone started to ring. I looked at it and realized who it was, my boss.
“Sargent Crouch, Who’s this?” My tired deep voice rolling out, for I was still waking up. Knowing who it was I still asked to be sure, he never calls on personal phones.
“Crouch, this is Sargent Major Bonnie we uh… fuck… just come down to the station we got something that you need to know.”  His tired, frail voice, on the verge of cracking as if he had been up all night. 
“Yes Sargent, be there soon as I can” I replied with eagerness, but something in the back of mind told me I wasn’t going to like what they had for me. 
“Jus…just take your time boy” He replied dryly. I was about to say something but he had hung up. I stared at the phone while, I gave my head a shake to get back my train of thought. I got my things ready and hurried out the door. As I drove through the base to get the station, many thoughts began to run through my head..
The Major never calls on mah personal phone, or anyone’s fer that matter. Am I in trouble? Why did he sound like he done seen a ghost? Did I do something wrong? Did some one talk about the classified mission again, that was a year ago, why would he bring that up? What’s going on…..  My mind raced through endless possibilities until I almost forgot where I was going and damn near missed my turn. As I whipped into the station, I could see the small, single level brick building, it had been painted over gray to give it a depressing almost sad feeling. I strolled through the front doors to see Sargent Major Bonnie standing at the front desk. Just the look on his eyes, sent even more questions through my brain. He’s never like this. I saw him and he saw me, I gave a quick salute and he returned it saying, “At ease.” with deadly precision.
“Sargent, follow me to my office and cut the formalities. We need to talk.” he said sternly, his face turning to a glare.  I just nodded and walked with him in silence to his office. And I thought …cut the formalities? Major Bonnie is all about formalities, what the hell is goin on? My train of thought was cut short as we rounded the corner to his office. We entered, and I suddenly realized I have never been in his office. It was oddly blank and bare, no medals or trophy’s.. Nothing. Just a desk, a computer and a few large leather love seats. As I stood there looking around the room, he must of seen my confusion, and confirmed my thoughts. 
“Never was the type to be colorful, or ‘show-offy’ with all mah stuff,  plain and simple, it’s how I like er.” He looked at me trying to produce a small grin, but failed as soon as we made eye contact, and looked away. He stuck his hand out and gestured me to sit down on one of the comfy chairs, I quickly obliged him. As I sat, he gave out a long deep tired sigh before continuing. 
“Listen, Crouch, out there I’m your C.O. but in here, I’m your friend. Now, there’s something I need to tell you.” His words caught me by surprise. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say the word friend.’ I thought worriedly, 
“Major,” I replied nervously, “..what is goin on? Em I in trouble?” 
“What? NO!... No. Your far from trouble boy, but I do have some bad news, it’s about your family.” I shot straight up at those words, my calm voice low and deadly, barely above a whisper. “What about my family? Are they okay?” The Sargent stopped, moving his mouth but to no avail. Finally he choked out at the speed of light. “It’s your mother, she’s dead..I’m sorry.”  All I could do was sit there and stare at him wide eyed, not moving, nor even breath. The gruff man continued “… the doctors said that the cancer took her, I know how close you are with your family… I’m... very sorry. I’ve already got it setup for you to take an extended leave, you will leave this evening. You need this... You've been through a lot, that's why you chose to be demoted to an MP...Take some time, be with your family and get straight, you’ve got a 2 weeks.”  I let out a deep sigh that I didn’t realize that I was holding, looked him in the eyes, said thank you and walked out feeling numb. 
I boarded a plan, went home, did all the stuff people do when their loved ones die, spent 2  weeks on the farm and came back to fort benning. I never cried, never laughed, never once could look at my father and tell him ‘its ganna be alright’, I didn’t know if I was ganna be alright. 2 weeks after I came back to base, I stopped eating, stopped going to work, thought I started to her voices now and then but dismissed it, and stopped talking completely.Many people got worried about me. So Sargent Bonnie ordered a Physiological. Eval on me. After hours of questioning and many other dumb activities, they diagnosed me as ‘mentally unfit to serve’ and gave me a  medical discharge and they sent me home. 
It wasn’t even 2 months later when my father died, I think I did go crazy that time. After his funeral, I went to the woods and started to  scream, yell, throw things, curse and swear until I ran out of tears and voice went dry. Didn’t help, but l think it does some, me and my grandpa talk about it from time to time, says its suppose to help me. I think it does to a point, but either way it still hurts. 
And now, here I am now, standing on my front porch watching the sunrise. As it barely peeks over the horizon, the sky explodes with an aurora of colors, as if mother nature had hand painted it using the worlds water colors. I look across the field and the barn, and let my eyes travel about to everything that I have accomplished, built, fixed, help raise and help bring to this earth. I feel a strange sensation that today is going to be great. I take a dip from my chew can, hoist up the straps on my bibs, flick up my straw cowboy hat, and head off towards the barn to do a never ending cycle of work… my home.
I come in late at night, in from a hard day’s work, I look around and yep, sure enough, grandpa is already out, snoring away on his rocking chair from watching me out the window all day. My grandpa is getting old and can’t get around that well anymore; so basically, I do all the work around the farm. I come inside and close the door quietly as to not wake up the snoring mountain man. I go through the kitchen and into my bedroom and flop down onto my bed without taking my boots off. I was out faster than you could say ‘tired’. My sound sleeping was cut short by a large boom, a type explosion sound, almost as if someone had broken the sound barrier. 
I shot up out of bed and ran to the window… nothing; I look down at my watch, 3:45 in the morning. “Damn,” I silently cursed to myself, there’s no way I’ll be able to get back to sleep. Throw on a light jacket and go outside to look for the source of the disturbance. I look around to see nothing, but over in the far off distance is a faint glow, with almost a purple hue to it, staring at it, I was confused. I’ve never seen anything like this. I looked around and grabbed the shotgun that laid next to the door, and headed into the pasture towards the trees. Staying just inside the trees to avoid….whatever it might be. I soon found myself running towards the light, getting closer as it began getting brighter, and then in a flash, the light was gone. I look around to where the light was and waited for my eyes to adjust, finally laying down was a figure of an animal. It was too dark to tell what it was but it was small, the closer I got to it the more I could tell its features. 
“A mini horse? The hell you doing way out here little guy?” i said aloud in a whisper to no one in particular. As I looked around I could see that there was scorch marks on the ground around the little pony.  I got closer, and put my hand on its chest, I felt that it was still breathing. 
“Well, I can’t jus leave ya hear where the wolves can get at ya, come on, I’ll take ya someplace safe, Ill get ya fixed up right.” I leaned down to pick up the small creature to lift it up and carry it back to the house and was caught off guard by how oddly light it weighed. I strung the small horse over my shoulder as I held tightly onto the shotgun... Never knowing who or what will come at ya in these woods. I then turned around and walked back to the house and thought.
'What happened to that light? And where in the hell did this horse come from? Does it belong to someone? I thought I saw a brand on its rear. Who could leave a horse out in the woods to die? THAT’S HORRIBLE!!'
'Nope its the new adoption program.' wait.. what? who said that? I spun around to find no one... just the trees... "HA, if I didn't know better id think that the trees are talking to me... I really should go see a doctor, its getting worse... oh well."
The sound of footsteps on a porch reached my ears, turning and suddenly realizing that I had made it home quicker than I had thought. I must have been really deep in thought. I walk through the house and set the horse on the floor in the living room. I went to look it over and see if it was hurt, but I couldn’t find anything. A quick check and it confirmed it, was a she. As I looked at her rear and seen the strangest brand I’ve ever seen.. 
‘Stars and… what else is that? I’ve never seen a brand that looks like that before. Huh, maybe it’s a circus pony, after all its purple and it does have cone on its head to make it look like a unicorn.. That’s probably it.’ I tried to convince myself, but for some reason, something seemed off, like I wasn’t getting the whole picture… as I stared at her brand or painting of some kind. I got up to leave but turned around to see her shiver; I pulled the blanket off the couch and threw it over her as quietly and as neatly as I could. If I looked hard enough, It almost looked like she was smiling. I looked down at the watch and saw it was 4:32… I let out an exasperated sigh and thought to myself, ‘looks like I might as well stay up, id normally be up now anyway. Might as well..’ As I turned to walk away and head out the door I hear shuffling and then groaning, I looked over to see that the small mare might be waking up. I walked back over to her and knelt down to watch her. 
“I don’t know where your from little one, but I think you is a long way from home.” I said almost teasingly 
“UUgghhh, my… huh?” the mare replied… wait.. the mare replied? “What the fu…” was all I could get out before the small purple mare turned her head to look at me, her eyes focused… and started to scream.

> Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2- Questions
“AAHHH!!” the purple mare screamed in terror, “AAHHH!!”, as I matched her scream to perfection, “Who are you…What are you? Stay back!” she yelled fearfully.
“ME?! You...Talking purple horse…AHH DEMON!!” I replied equally terrified, I turned to run but the last thing I saw was my half naked grandpa running towards the noise, before I ran straight into the door frame, and was knocked out cold.
“I...I think he is waking up.” Said an unfamiliar female voice. 
“I aint never seen that boy scared of anything, let alone knock himself out… HA! Funniest shit I ever saw. That was funnier than a retard eatin hotwings.” I recognized that gruff, old voice and wheezy laughter. My grandpa, Rod. My memories where a blur as if having to much to drink, getting really fucked up, and waking up the next morning trying to remember what had happened. Then suddenly, almost painfully, my memories came rushing back like someone broke open a dam and everything flooded in at once. I shot upright, my medium long black hair rushing into view, and realized, that was a bad idea.  As I clutched my forehead and groaned, my vision was begging to come to, It was my grandfather sitting in a chair near the kitchen table, and a worried looking purple…Unicorn? She was sitting staring down at me. My grandfather, a smaller heavy set man with a long bushy white beard with equally long white hair. His large hands and pop-eye forearms holding his coffee cup while his bold, tired eyes were magnified behind his large wire framed glasses looking quizzically at me. He reminds me a bit of Santa clause, that is if Santa clause wore a fishnet ball cap, overalls, and had fingers the size of sausages. All I could do was sit and stare at the purple unicorn, as my mind tried to fill it with an explanation. My mouth moved but no words were coming out. “I knew it...” I finally was able to choke out, my mind still half retarded. 
“Huh?” my grandpa said looking at me funny.
“I knew it, I finally went crazy, just like they said… no way that’s real, there’s a talking purple unicorn in our fucking kitchen.” I said pointing accusingly to the colored mare.
“No, you aint crazy boy. But she does have one hell of a story, you need to sit, listen and be respectful boy. Ya hear?” He said in a tone that almost made me feel in trouble. I merely nodded and slowly got to my feet, never taking my eyes off the purple pony. I sat in the chair next to me, across from my grandfather and tried blinking a few times as if this were just some dream, and I wasn’t waking up. Seconds, which felt like minutes resumed in silence before I finally broke it, surprising myself. “Grandpa, you don’t look at least one bit surprised about this whole thing. How are you not freaking out right now?” I asked, my grandpa just shrugged his shoulders at me and replied calmly. “Eh, I’ve seen weirder things. I tend not to question or be surprised by things. I just make whisky, play cards and let the answers come by themselves… everything happens for a reason boy.”
“Right...” I replied in an almost sarcastic tone. 'Yep,...that's it, my brain stopped.' I thought as i watched him. He just sat, stared out the window and sipped his coffee. “So how long have I been out?” I asked worriedly. My grandpa gave I slight chuckle and replied. “Oh, maybe an half an hour…tops.” I just nodded and continued to stare at the purple unicorn. She then began to move towards me, startling me. Not knowing what to do I looked at my grandfather with a pleading look for help. All he did was return it with an amused smile and took another sip of his coffee. I sighed, and looked back down to the mare in front of me as she spoke.
“Uh..Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She said with shakiness in her voice.
“Hey, I’m Andy, nice to meet ya.” I replied as I held out my hand. She put her small hoof in my hand and I gave it a light shake. 
“I…uh…talked with your grandfather for a bit, and he answered a lot of my questions. He is very nice.”
“Ya, he is.” I said with a slight chuckle. 
“Ya, just think it’s strange havin a horse...err...unicorn in the house. Then again I should be used to it, with all the damn animals you bring home from the woods.” My grandpa said almost mockingly. All I could do was crack a small grin. Twilights eyes perked up. “Oh! You like animals?” She asked
“Ya, seems I get along better with critters then I do people.”
“Ya, that’s no shit,” my grandpa said sarcastically.  The mare looked at me with a smile, “Now I know two ponies that you would get along with.”
“Wait, two? There’s more of you?” I asked surprised.
“Yep, what I tell ya. Hell of a story.” He replied. The mare simply looked at me, I gave a long, low sigh and said, “ok, so… what’s your story?”
“Well...” she began grimacing. “It’s kind of a long story.” 
“I got nothing but time, so let hear it.” I replied sternly.
“Ok.” She perked up, stood up straight, and took a deep breath. I could tell that this was going to take a while. I got up to go grab a cup of coffee. As I stood up, I realized just how small she was. Standing on all fours, she barely came up to the bottom of my waist, bout the normal size of a mini horse...Then again I was 6'3...  I grabbed a cup and poured me some coffee. No sugar, black, just how I like it. I walked back to a seat at the table near my grandfather, and I could see the mare starring at me with a confused look on her face. Trying to imagine what she was thinking, I just shrugged and said with a slight smirk, pointing at myself. “It’s instant human, just add coffee.”  
My grandpa gave a slight chuckle and replied, “Don’t drink his coffee, when he makes it, it’s so strong it wakes up the neighbors.” The mare just smiled and took another deep breath and began her story…
ONE HOUR AND MANY QUESTIONS LATER… 
“…so the princesses and I put our magic together to cast a spell from my ‘Starswrill the Bearded’ book to see what the effect of the spell would be. There was a bright flash and the next thing I remember is waking up in your living room.” She finished with a nervous grin. I just sat there in stunned silence, stroking my medium sized beard trying to find something to say. Finally, “So, let me get this straight; make sure I got this right.” I paused a moment thinking of how to sum my thoughts up. 
“You’re a magical unicorn, from a land called Equestria that inhabits pegasus, regular talking ponies and other magical unicorns and beings. All ruled by two queens who are sisters?” 
“Princesses.” She corrected. “But yes, that would be the sum of it.”
“Well…” I replied calmly. “Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick!! You’re right that is one hell of a story!!” I said wide eyed, staring at the purple unicorn trying to absorb everything that she told me. “Well, excuse me, I’m ganna run to the little boys room.” I said as I got out of my chair and headed to the restroom. Twilight looked like she was going to ask something, but decided not to.
“Hey,” my grandpa said, barely above a whisper once I was out of the room. Twilight looked up.
My grandfather continued, “Now, I really don’t know what you are, why you’re here, or what’s really going on, but…thank you.”  Twilight just looked at him with a confused look on her face. “He hasn’t been this talkative in years. He’s a good buck; ya just got to give him time. He’ll warm up to ya eventually. He gets along better with animals I noticed and I don’t know why. He’ll sit and talk to animals for hours as if they were people. The animals love him. People….not so much…You being a talkin…pony, and what not, he’ll find it easier to talk to you. He’s been through a lot in a very short time, some of the things he’s been through I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. A lot people just think he’s crazy…maybe he is, but I still love him none the less.  I know our ways and land must seem weird to you, but give it time and you’ll realize that were more alike than you think.”  My grandpa finished, patted her on her head and began to get up out of his chair. The old man always did have a way with words. Twilight just smiled at him. I came back into the room and all eyes were on me, as if they had been talking about me just moments before.
“Alright,” my grandpa said breaking the silence. “It’s Wednesday, so I gots to go into town to pick up feed for the animals. You two stay here and get acquainted. Why don’t you show her around the farm a bit if she’s up fer it.”
“Yes please!” Twilight replied cheerfully. “I would love to see the differences that our worlds have and meet some of the creatures here. I would also like to know more about you, we don’t have humans where I come from. There just a myth from folk lore. It would make a great report paper” She replied smiling and clapping her hooves together
“well, I thought unicorns didn’t exist either, and yet here we are… sure I can do that.” I said, still somewhat stunned that I was talking to a purple unicorn.
“Ok.” My grandfather said butting into my train of thought, “I’ll see ya’ll here in a bit, OH!! And don’t forget about them fence posts. We need to get em fixed before the snow comes, if we don’t, were ganna be fubared.”  He said waving a finger at me accusingly.
“Alright, I won’t forget, just be careful.”
“I will, I should be back by dinner.” He waved with a grin as he turned to leave out the door. I matched his grin and looked back towards Twilight. She walked up to me and looked at me with a hard look on her face.
“What is FUBAR?” she asked, saying the word as if it were deadly.
“Oh…that. It uh… Just means Fuck Up Beyond All Reason.” I said with a grin.
“Oh… well, what does fuck mean?” She asked confused with a cock of her head. I let out a deep sigh and covered my face with a hand and stared at her a moment, as my hand slid of my face I replied, “Today, is going to be a long day.”
After explaining what felt like humanity’s entire dictionary and several questions that fallowed, I heard a noise coming from outside. Suddenly, I realized aloud, jumping out of my chair. “FUCK!! I forgot to feed horses!”
“Your grandpa said he already feed them.” She said before I could reach the door. I let out a quick sigh of relief.
“Oh, ok. I’ll have to thank him when…” my thoughts were cut short as an idea struck me. “Hey, Twilight, would you like to go see what our ponies look like?” I asked with mile wide grin. Her ears perked up. 
“Oh, yes please.”
“Alright, then I can show you around the farm a little bit, my own slice of heaven.” She just smiled at me, her face beaming with excitement. We headed for the door as we both walked out to the front porch. She simply stood there and gaped in wonder, mouth wide open. 
“I have seen farms before, but this…this is very pretty and diverse, only one I have ever seen is an apple farm.” I just looked at her and chuckled.
“Ya, its pretty sweet, one thing’s for sure is that you’ll never NOT have anything to do around here.” She just giggled slightly as we began to walk to the barn. 
“So,” I said, trying to strike up a conversation, “Ya said you’ve seen a farm before, you ever worked one before?”
“Yes, one of my best friends Applejack, she and her family own an apple farm. I helped her once with a harvest.” She answered confidently.
“Apple farm huh?” I said thinking deeply, “Don’t think I’ve ever seen one of them.”
“Yes, it’s quite pretty as well… you know, your accent reminds me a lot of hers, but yours is more…defined.” She said trying not sound insulting. “no offence.” She quickly added.
“Oh, none taken.” Trying to assure the young mare.
“So, do you like working on your farm?” she asked curiously.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” I said with a grin. She looked at me as if I had smacked her. As if reading her mind. “It just means yes.” My grin fading.
“Well, why not just say ‘yes’ then?” I just shrugged, “I don’t know, habit I guess, makes for fun talkin.” Trying to find something else to change the topic, “Oh, hey,” I said excitedly. “Were here. You ready to see an earth...pony?” she nodded and I opened the barn doors to reveal the corrals and the gentle giants that took home in them. She stood in shock at the sheer size of the large equines. 
“They’re…so big!” she replied stuttering as if trying to process what she was seeing. “They are even bigger than Celestia!” she said in awe. I raised an eyebrow trying to imagine this ‘Celestia’. 
“Do they talk? I would love to do an interview.” She wondered excitedly. “Not to my knowledge, but I’ve gotten pretty good watchin em and reading em to figure out what they want.” She just stood silently and watched the giant as it lowered its head to sniff the young strange looking mare. Twilight gave me a worried look as if she wasn’t sure. I just stood there and grinned. As the large horse was eye level with twilight, it gave a deep sniff, and sneezed. 
The large horse simply shook his head and trotted to the other end of the stall. I was cought up in hysterical laughter, to the point of tears, I almost couldn’t hear Twilight. “Ewww. Gross, alien pony snot.” She said grossed out and whipping off her face. That just made me laugh even harder. After my laughing fit, I saw a glaring Twilight, trying to compose myself, “ha,..That there is Toomee, name means ‘free spirit’ and he can be an asshole sometimes but he’s a good horse.” I replied the best I could, whipping tears away. The mare just stood and glared at me, realizing the joke was over I tried to change the subject. “Why don’t I show you around the rest of the farm?” she brightened up and we began to walk out. I was still snickering at the thought of her and the look on her face. She caught on and spiraled on me in an embarrassed tone. 
“It wasn’t that funny.” I started to laugh again. I couldn’t stop, soon I heard twilight starting to laugh from a small chuckle into full out laughter. After our fit, we just smiled to one another and continued the tour.
After a long tour around the ranch and another laughing fit because of a rooster chasing Twilight, we were on our way back to the house. But something in the back of my mind was bothering me.
“Hey Twilight, I was wondering, when I found you and carried you home, you felt unusually light. Like near a newborn foul for my planet. I’m wondering, is that cuz of your magic?” I asked curiously.
“You know, I’m not really sure, I have noticed that I feel quite heavy here and slower moving.” She replied deep in thought. “I would think it might be because the gravity on your planet is much stronger than that on my planet. Yes, I think that might be it, I’ll have to run a few tests.”
“Huh…” I replied acknowledging. Deep in thought and paying no attention, I tripped over a stump and feel flat on my face. I got my feet back under me and chuckled. “Guess I should watch were I’m goin, not were I’ve been huh? HA.” Twilight looked…worried, scared even. Seeing this I asked, “What’s wrong Twilight?”   
“I…I tried to catch you, but..” She gasped “Does my magic still work? Why couldn’t I catch you? Oh no..oh no…”
“What?... Slow down, maybe you couldn’t catch me cause I aint from your planet?” I asked, trying my best to calm her down, even though I knew nothing about magical unicorns. “Hey! I got an idea, if you want you could help me with those fence posts, that way you can use your magic and be sure it’s still in working order.” Twilights face perked up at the idea. 
“Sure, sounds great, just one problem…. I really don’t know how.” She said her cheeks a burning crimson. I just chuckled.
“Come on, I’ll show ya.” She nodded and we headed to the shed for supplies.
The fence didn’t take long at all, and twilight was sure her magic was fine. She came to the conclusion that since I’m not from her planet and haven’t been around magic is why she cant use it on me. She even tried a few spells on me, nothing. Twilight freaked out once because the barb wire rolled back and cut me up pretty good and drew some blood. I guess healing spells work though, we found that out, leaving only a long scar down my arm, We took a step back to admire our handy work. 
“Holy shit, we got that done faster than a jack rabbit on moonshine. I’ll make a farmer out you yet.” I said as I chuckled a bit.
“Ya, but I think I’ll just stick to my books…no offence.” She said looking exhausted.  I heard the sound of growling and bubbling. I looked to Twilight who seemed a bit embarrassed, and gave me a nervous grin. I just smiled.
“Hungry huh? Ya, Im so hungry i could eat the balls off a low flying duck.” I replied grabbing my stomach. “We don’t have much for veggies except the stuff we just harvested. I assume you don’t eat meat.” She looked at me appalled.  “Of course not! I don’t know any pony that does.”
“Well, I do.” I replied calmly. Yep, that got the reaction I was expecting. Twilight just stood there shocked, staring at me. “I thought you loved animals?” she asked looking a bit upset. I sighed.
“I do love animals, but meat is just good. I don’t kill for fun, I kill to survive. That’s the only way you’ll survive up here. When the snow comes, you can’t get down from the mountain or up it, and crops don’t grow year round…least not here.” I explained my own agitation showing in my voice. Twilight eased up a bit, “I guess I can understand that.” I smiled, “Come on, let’s go get some grub.” She just smiled up at me as we walked back to the house. The second we entered, I unhooked my bibs and tore off my sweat ridden shirt. 
Twilight looked at me with a confused look on her face. “What are all those markings on your body? Are they your cutie mark?” Now, it was my turn to look confused.
“Cutie what?...No, there tattoos. People put em on themselves to show individuality, or remember something, or just because they look cool, like this one…” I said point to the one on my right shoulder. It looked like a cowboy hat resting on a pair of boots with a coffee cup next to it. “This one is for my brother who passed away, it’s a memorial tattoo. Most of the ones I have are memorials. Except this tribal one…” I said pointing to my right arm. It started as a half sleeve and made its way to my collar bone and wrapped around my peck. Then I proceeded to show her all of my tattoos from my dog tags from the military, to the tribal, skulls, flames, and animals that litter my arms and body. She asked about, my POW MIA tattoo and asked what it meant and quickly put my shirt back on.
After explaining all my tattoos and what they meant, she told me what cutie marks are. I understood them as a kind of tattoo that shows your destiny. She explained hers was magic. After that we ate up until we were stuffed. We then just talked for a long while. We talked about everything from her friends and family, all the way to my planet and the differences between. I looked down at my watch and realized, ‘wow 4:00, grandpa should have been home a couple of hours ago.’ Twilight must have seen the worry on my face and asked. “Is everything ok Andy?”
“Ya, just my grandpa has been gone fer a while, he should of been home by now.”
“Well, you said yourself, it takes a while to get to the town and back up the mountain. I’m sure he is fine.” She said with a reassuring smile.
“Ya, you’re probably right, Hey! What do ya say we go outside and you can use your magic and see if we can’t figure a way for you to get ya home.” I said with a grin, trying to change the subject. I was never good at the touchy feely stuff. She just nodded and matched my grin as we headed back outside.
Well, no luck. I guess Twilight tried every spell she knows but nothing. She disappeared once and then to my surprise reappeared back in the kitchen. We must have been out there for hours because when I looked at the sky, I saw the sun getting ready to set. I remembered my grandpa and began to worry again, it was damn near dusk, where is he? Twilight was exhausted from the exertion of using so much magic for a long period of time. I saw her tired figure and I gestured towards the house. She merely nodded and we walked back in and sat down near the kitchen table, I sat in my chair and Twilight just flopped down on the floor. I was just getting ready to get up to make some coffee when the phone rang. It startled Twilight and made me jump, I looked for the noise and saw it. Darkness swept over me as I thought, ‘that phone never rings, nobody knows this number. The last time that phone rang was when…. No, not now, just push it back like I don with everything else that has happened.’ 
I started to dread as the phone continued to ring. Twilight looked at me with confusion, watching me. I shook my head and walked over to the phone, dusted it off and answered it.
“Hello?” I said with nervousness creeping into my voice.
“Yes, is this Andy?” the unfamiliar male voice said.
“Yes,.. Who’s this, and how do you know this number?” I said slightly agitated.
There was a pause on the other side of the line. “…this is Sheriff Ralph Nile of the Pinedale police department. Your grandfather…. You need to come to the station, there’s been an accident.”
“……..”

>  Why?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3-Why?
“……” I couldn’t speak. “A-Accident? What do ya mean accident? Is my grandpa ok? What happened?” I choked out, fear in my voice.
“Sir, you just need to come to the station and I will explain everything.”
I sighed, “…Very well.” 
“Now, I understand you live up on the mountain in the muddy ridge correct?” He asked.
“Yes sir.” I replied respectfully. “Well is there anyone with you? Friends, Family, Neighbor? If so, you’ll need to bring someone with you.” I looked to Twilight and stared at her for a moment thinking, her confused and worry full face matching mine.
“Yes, there is…Why?” I asked confused.
“Andy, I will explain everything once you get here, I promise.” The officer snapped, sounding tired. “…Ok, see you in a bit.” I let out a deep sigh as I hung up the phone. Twilight looked at me with concern; I couldn’t look at her innocence without trying to tear up so I had to direct my attention elsewhere. A I stood staring out of the window, I could feel a tear wanting to break out. ‘No, not yet…don’t jump to conclusions. You remember the last time you were emotionally stunted… you promised yourself you wouldn’t do that again.’ I thought to myself shuddering at the memory until I was interrupted in thought and brought back to reality.
“Andy... What is wrong? What is that device? What accident? Is everything ok?” she asked pointing to the telephone. I turned to look at her, my face as hard and blank as a stone wall. 
“It’s called a phone. It lets me talk to people far away and the accident… I don’t know, he just told me to head into town.” I looked at her a moment, “I need your help Twilight.” She perked up. “With?”
“I need you to come to town with me, I might need your help, with what, I aint sure yet. But all he told me was to bring someone. Or in your case…somepony.” Twilight smiled, “Sure, I would love to go with you. It is the least I can do for you taking me in. Do I get to meet other…” 
“Yes,” I said abruptly cutting her off. “But there’s one thing…two things actually. You can’t talk, or use your magic around others, if it’s just you and me, then yes but otherwise don’t talk and don’t use magic.” Twilight looked hurt, “But…why?” she asked confused. “Because,” I began sternly. “Others aren’t like me, they aint open minded. They’ll see you and it will scare them, then they will think of ya as a threat. After that, people will take you, and you’ll never see your friends again…you’ll never be able to go home.” Twilight sat there staring at me, sulking. “Look Twilight…” I began as I knelt down and put my hand on her shoulder, “I’m just as confused as you are. I only say these things to protect you, I don’t say them to hurt you. I don’t want you to get hurt, or ruin your innocence just because humans are being humans…understand?” 
“Not really. Why aren’t other humans like you like you say?” 
“I don’t know. I know you’ve only known me for about a day now, not even that but your just ganna have to trust me.” Still kneeling, She looked into my eyes, no…into my soul, “You know, there’s just something about you… sure, I trust you.” She said giving a fake grin. “Listen, I promise on my…no…my grandfathers grave that I will never let anything bad happen to you. And I’ll try my best to help you find a way to get you home.” I said giving my best reassuring grin. 
Twilight stared at me with watery eyes, “I…I don’t know what to say, I’ve never meet another pony, err human, like you willing to do everything for a total stranger that you know nothing about.” She grinned at me and rushed forward, pulling me into a hug. I was taking aback by this. I’m not really a ‘Touchy-feely’ kind of guy. Never did understand but I’ve always connected better with animals, sure she was a talking pony, but she was still one of mother nature’s beautiful creatures, even if she’s not from this planet… I stayed there, frozen, not knowing what to do. “Thank you.” She said, barely audible. I gave an awkward pot on her back. “Sure… no problem, it’s in the job description of a farmer.” She looked up at me, her face beaming. After a long awkward stare I coughed and broke the silence. “Well, we should probably get going; we got a long night ahead of us.” I said as I stood up. “Let me get cleaned up and we can get off this mountain and make sure my grandpa fine and bring him home.” I chuckled at a memory, “He probably just got drunk and needs a ride home or something” Twilight and I chuckled together as I started towards the bathroom.
I got inside the small bright room and started the hot water. I closed the door and began to undress. After the water was warm enough I hoped in and quickly scrubbed down. Its wasn’t a very long one cause our hot water doesn’t last very long, so it was short lived. I got out and dried off staring at myself in the mirror, admiring myself. Now, I don’t mean to brag but I was looking good. I wasn’t at massive body builder status, but I wasn’t a string bean either. I was somewhere in-between. I was... ‘Built’ and ‘toned’. I chuckled at myself as I was flexing in front of the mirror, acting like a child. The constant working of the farm had definitely made me stronger. I stared at my face in the mirror, my long beard and long hair, for some reason it just felt a bit much. 
“Eh, why not,” I said aloud, “I was getting tired of the hippie hair anyways.” I reached under the sink and found some electric clippers, a small bag of attachments, and my razor. I went ahead and buzzed off my beard and giving it a close shave afterward to a baby smooth finish. After that I then added a small attachment to the clippers, about one inch, and gave her hell.  After I was finished, I looked at my handy work, clean shaven and a nice, small, tight buzzed hair cut.  I looked over it to if I missed any spots…nope. My facial features pronounced and the large scar that went from the corner of my right eye down to the top of my lip, ‘Awesome’ I thought ‘now I remember why I always kept the beard and long hair… oh well’. I looked at the large mound of hair in the sink and picked it all up and threw it in the trash. I tightened up my towel and headed out the bathroom; I walked through the living room and saw twilight playing with a deck of cards at the kitchen table. ‘Well at least she knows what those are.’ I thought to myself. I turned the corner just before the kitchen into my room, and headed for the corner where my dresser was. I picked out some jeans and a red, button up, plaid shirt with the sleeves cut off. I threw my boots on and picked up my straw hat and threw it on. I found all my necessary items back in the bathroom were I had left them, like my wallet, pocket knife, chew and keys.
As I walked back into the kitchen and saw Twilight still playing cards I spoke, startling her. “Hey, what do ya think?” I asked spreading my arms. She looked me over and smiled. “You shaved and cut your hair, I like it. I never noticed that scar before.” 
“Ya, I forgot it was there to.” I said with a small chuckle. She gave a slight giggle, “Well, you clean up nice. Are we ready?”
“Yep, shall we.” I said, opening the door and gesturing outside. Twilight walked outside as I fallowed. “One problem though, how are we going to get to town, we can’t walk it will be dark soon, and I can’t use my teleportation spell to a place I haven’t been before.” She asked.
I laughed, “Ha! Walk? Fuck that shit, that would be one hell of a long walk. Were taking my truck.”  The young mare looked confuse as we walked. “What’s a truck?”
“It’s how people get around, they use machines for transportation.” I explained
“Oh, how very interesting.”
We got to my truck that was just around the house with an audible. “Ta-Da!!” Twilight just stared at the strange piece of hulking metal before her. “This is my girl. A 1980 Dodge Ramcharger, I rebuilt her myself from the ground up. She’ll go anywhere you want to go. If there was a road to the moon, she’d get ya up there no problem.” I said with a grin as I walked up and gave the hood of the truck a light smack. “Yep, won the state Mud-Bogs with this baby, she’s the ultimate off-road rig.” Twilight watched it, walking around it, poking it, and inspecting it. “She?” Twilight asked.
“Well, it don’t have a gender, it’s just habit.” I replied slightly embarrassed.
“So how do we ride it?” 
I just laughed, “You got to get in it and start it first.” As I opened the door and jumped up into the truck. I looked over and saw twilight was having trouble getting in the truck until she simply levitated herself in and shut the door with a confident smile. I grinned and put the key in the ignition and turned it. I was greeted with the sound of thunder from the big block engine and straight pipe exhaust. Twilight jumped and began looking for the sound, my grin increased even more. “It’s how she breathes,” I said if reading her mind. “It’s very loud” she said with a nervous smile. I had a grin the size of the Chester cat. “You haven’t seen nothing yet.” I yelled as I threw it in gear and smashed the gas pedal.
We were off like a rocket, putting both of us back in our seat, and bringing the pipes to life, getting a “Yee Haw!” from me. I looked over to see Twilight scream and have a look of terror on her face. She was holding on to the seat so tight, I could see the stitches begin to tear.
After a bit of playing around and explaining how it all works, we were on our way down the mountain. It was relatively silent besides the occasional question or ohh’s and ahh’s as she watched the scenery. Once we hit the main road an idea struck me. I realized I would probably have a radio signal now that were off the mountain. I flicked the knob on the radio and started to dial it into a working station. I stopped when hearing a clean and clear channel. ‘Big Iron’ by Marty Robbins was playing. Twilight turned her head at me with a grin on her face. 
“You can’t tell me you don’t have radios on your planet.” I said jokingly
“Oh we do, I’ve just never heard your music before…This is a type of country?” she asked. I grinned, ‘At least she knows what music is…it’s a start.’ I thought. “Yep, but personally I prefer bluegrass.” She cocked her head, confused again. “I’m pretty sure you’ve heard it before, maybe you know it by something different.” She nodded and turned her head to look out the window. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful and silent. There were a few questions about music, people, the city, and things she saw as we drove by. It was pretty dark, so I switched on the lights and she asked about them to.
As we drove, the city lights were coming to view. “What are those lights?” Twilight asked. I sighed at the fact of realizing where we were going. “That... That is the city sug.”
“Well, it looks pretty.”
“Ya, well, it’s hell.” She looked at me for an explanation, but I didn’t give one. “Now remember what I told you, no talking and no magic. Its ganna be hard enough trying to explain a purple unicorn… then again it might not be. From what I understand, everyone thinks that I’m some crazy nutcase that lives in the mountains.”
“Why do other humans think you’re crazy? You don’t seem crazy to me.” 
“Who knows… I might be... I really don’t know, I think it’s because I spend more time, get along better, and talk to animals more than I do people. I guess people just don’t understand and it freaks them out.”
“Huh…humans are strange.” She said deep in thought, tapping her hoof on her chin.
“Ya…Ya they are.”
Twilight looked away and began to stare outside the window again, watching in awe as we entered the city and began passing people, trucks and cars, lights and buildings abounds.  After some unintended road rage and a few fingers, I finally made my way to the police station. It may be a small city, but a city is a city in my book. I pulled into the police station and found a parking spot in the near empty parking lot, save for a few police cruisers and car. I pulled up and turned the truck off and just stared at the building, not wanting to move. I felt a hoof on my knee and looked down to see a reassuring Twilight grinning at me. I smiled a little, let out a deep sigh and pulled the keys from the ignition, got out, and let the young mare jump out before closing the door. As we walked to the small, square, gloomy looking building my mind was elsewhere, thinking of many things. Family, friends, animals, a truck, a fire…the war…the explosion… I shook my head because I knew were that was going. ‘I don’t ever want to remember that.’ I thought to myself. I was so deep in thought I almost ran into the door. I opened the door and let Twilight and myself through. The building was blank and dull, empty at that save for a few chairs and a large desk in front of me with a young woman staring at her computer. 
She looked up from her computer and stared at me, then at Twilight, then back at me and finally back to her computer. Without looking up she spoke, “Sir I’m going to have to ask you to take your…err horse outside.” This agitated me a bit, “You leave her be, she aint hurting anything.”
“Sir its company policy that anim…”
“Hey.” I said interrupting her, getting slightly pissed, “Do you feed me, fuck me, or pay my bills?” The lady looked from her computer appalled. “No? Then go fuck yourself…Fucking people I swear.” I finished with a mutter. “SIR I…”
“Andy! About damn time you showed up. I’ve been waiting hours for you.” Said the voice from the phone. “Good to finally meet ya, we spoke on the phone earlier today, I’m chief officer Ralph Nile.” He finished as he walked the final distance and stuck out his hand. I obliged and shook his hand, taking in the large man. He was older, not quite as old as my grandpa, but older, he was small and was clean shaven. He had a lazy eye, it was confusing me not sure which one to look at. I hid a chuckle from my own thoughts with a cough and replied. “Likewise, you obviously already know me.”
“Yes well, you and your grandpa are pretty well known round here.” He said with a frown looking at the purple mare in the room, playing with the water fountain. “What’s with the...err horse?” 
“You mean the unicorn? Don’t worry bout it. You told me to bring a friend and I did.” I said never taking my eyes off the heavy man. He was blank a moment as if he was having trouble trying to think of something to say. He then clapped his hands together and gave a slight chuckle, “Like I said… Well known.” Now, I was starting to get impatient.
“You told me to come to the station, and something about my grandfather. Why am I here? I’m pretty sure it’s not for chit-chat… So tell me what’s going on, is he in trouble?”  The officer’s face changed instantly to one of worry. “Uh, no exactly, umm… Why don’t you come to my office, I need to tell you some things.” I nodded and looked back at the curious mare examining the desk lady. “Come on Twilight,” I said with a slight chuckle, causing the mare to turn around and smile. 
“But Sir I… Oh forget it.” The lady at the desk begun to say, realizing arguing would be fruitless. Twilight and I walked along side each other following the large man down the short, narrow hallway. The man stopped at the end of the hall and opened a door as he gestured us into the room. We stood at the front of a cramped looking office with a small desk and a computer by a large window, and two cheap looking chairs in front of the desk in the middle of the room. Once we were all in the room, the officer shut the door and made his way to his desk and sat in a comfortable looking office chair.  ‘He’s acting just like me C.O did when…no don’t think about it.’ I thought. I got to his desk and sat down in one of the chairs finding it oddly uncomfortable, while Twilight just sat next to me on the floor. The officer ran his hands down his face with a deep sigh. 
“So, what’s the big deal? Mind explaining everything, and why I had to travel 2 fucking hours from my house to the nearest town?” I asked getting impatient.
“Andy…” The officer started, “The doctors did everything they could, they…” he paused a moment, “I’ve known your grandpa for quite a while and I know he did what he thought was right.” I raised an eyebrow not sure where this was going, but something in the back of my mind told me I knew all too well. 
“…He…There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just ganna say it. There was a robbery at the local convenience store and your grandpa was at the wrong place at the wrong time. There were two boys, looked young, who robbed the store at gunpoint. Well your grandfather saw this and tried to stop it…he…he was shot in the process.” 
I just stared at him in shock, as if he was playing a joke on me. I quickly realized my grandpa wouldn’t do something like that, he is a prankster, but he wouldn’t do that… I continued to stare at him, no emotions showing, just dumbfounded shock. “Well…then he’s…” I couldn’t finish.
“Dead? Yes…I, I’m very sorry.” He said as he finished my sentence. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I felt a tear trying to creep its way out, I sucked it back in, ‘no...not yet, not here.’ I replaced my sadness with anger, revenge and other thoughts and feelings. “I see…who?” I said quietly and deadly.
“I’m not sure I was hoping you could help me with that. You see we have a video, would you be willing to watch it and see if you can identify the robbers?” I nodded and looked to Twilight who had a silent tear streaking down her face. I looked back and saw the officer doing something on his computer; he clicked something and turned the monitor so I could watch. It was a still picture of a convenience store I’ve seen hundreds of times. He pushed a button and this went into motion.
It was a simple corner store, a view from a video camera looking to the entrance of the shop and inside through two large windows. My grandfathers truck pulled into a parking spot right out in front of the entrance, id recognize that old truck anywhere. I couldn’t hear it so I assumed it didn’t have any audio. He got out and looked up into the camera as if knowing I was watching him. I stared into those deep blue eyes feeling on the verge of tears again. 
He walked and entered the store and went right up to the counter, I assumed he was buying chew. As he got to the check out desk, a vehicle pulled up very quickly, two men jumped out and ran inside guns drawn. My grandpa saw this and immediately threw himself towards one of the armed men and tried to grab the gunman’s weapon. He tussled with him for a moment and turned his back to the camera now. There was movement of arms and a sudden flash. Everything stopped as if someone had paused the video. My grandpa stumbled to the counter, clutching his chest, watching as his blood dripped to the floor. The gunmen shocked, not knowing what to do, giving the clerk behind the counter time to reach under the counter and grab a shotgun. It looked like it scared the robbers and they began to run. There was another small flash of light and one of the windows exploded. As the gunmen ran out the door one of the robbers looked right at the camera. ‘I know him’ I thought ‘That’s Kameron and his little brother…’ Anger swelled in my body as I continued to watch my grandpa.
He was hanging on the counter, trying to dig something out of his pocket smearing the object with blood. A piece of paper? He clutched the paper and began to stumble towards the door, as the clerk tried saying something moving his hands, but I couldn’t tell. My grandpa walked out the door the best he could, heading towards his truck. Once he got to his truck, he opened the door and tried to get in, but slid down to the ground, back against the truck. He was breathing deeply and holding the paper close, clutching it as if his life depended on it. I saw his chest rise once, and his arms fell to his side as a single glittering tear ran down his face. He exhaled his last breath as the clerk ran outside to look for the injured man, and the video ended, just like that.
It was only about 40 seconds long. I felt the drop of a tear that I didn’t know I had shed, my face warm with sadness, furry, and vengeance. I stared at the blank computer screen until the officer moved it back to its original position, snapping me back to reality. I looked to the officer, his face asking the question. I thought a moment then answered. “No, I…I don’t know them.” I said between breaths, trying to keep my composure. 
“You sure?” The officer asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded and the man just sighed. A moment past in silence. “Oh, here, this was everything he had on him at the time.” He said as he fished into a drawer, handing me a set of keys, a watch, a wallet, and a blood smeared piece of folded up paper. For some reason the paper caught my eye. Why was it so important that he would hold onto it while he died? My curiosity found me and I opened it up. It was a letter. Two actually, and it looked like he’s been keeping them in his pocket for years, the letters smeared and bloody. On the back of it, it said, To: Andy, my grandson. Ok, now I had to read it. I cleared my throat and began to read aloud.
“Dear Andy, My grandson,
Why god made a farmer- God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer. God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer. "I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a bull and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer. God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer. God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer. God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, someone who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.  "Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'" So God made a farmer.” I flipped over the page and saw another one and continued,
“That is why god and the spirits made us, made you my boy. It’s funny, that quote always made me think of you, that’s why I wrote it down.  If you’re reading this then… well I’m dead. I was getting pretty old and I knew my time would come soon, Doctors said I had some heart problems, so I made arrangements just in case, so to speak. Everything I wanted to say but never had the time or enough balls to. Boy, you’ve been through a lot in your short time on earth, everything from the war, to your parents, friends and family, but you keep going no matter what and for that, I’m very proud of you. I’m proud of the soldier you were, the farmer you are, your helpful nature and everything inbetween… I watched you grow up from a fussy baby to the amazing man that you are today. If I was even half the man you are, my life would be better. But my life was great, because I got to see you, talk to you, play, and work with you damn near every day. I wouldn’t change it for the world. Yes, I’m gone, but don’t be sad, know that I’m always with you along with your mother and father and the rest of your family standing beside you no matter what. Don’t be mad either, be happy for me, cause now I get to be with your grandma again. Remember what she used to say all the time? “Kisses to heaven.” God I miss her. But just remember, never give up, always fight on, stick to your virtues that you’ve been taught no matter what. Always help those who need it, be kind, loyal, live your life to its fullest and never have regrets and always make good whiskey. Just like I taught you. Life is short and you only get one. One chance, so I’m ganna use this one chance to say, I love you boy, with all my heart. Always have and always will. I know I never said it often, but I just wanted you to know that I do. And just remember, if you’re ever missing me, just watch the sun rise. Watch it and know I’m sitting there watching it with you, and when the light hits you and you feel a warmth go through you cause of the morning sun, know it’s me, hugging you and telling you I love ya, along with the rest of your family. So get out there, have fun and make some memories and make me proud…I’ve always been proud of you, so goodbye and thank you, for making an old man’s life happy and complete. I love you son.”
I stopped, that was it. I stared at the paper as tears dotted the blood stained paper. A new kind of sadness, furry and revenge started in my mind. It felt as if something had just…snapped. Like someone cut a single piece of thin string. ‘I will make them pay for what they did, I swear…’ I thought angrily. I looked up to see not a single dry eye in the room. The officer and Twilight both had silent tears streaming down their cheeks, both of their eyes blood shot from the constant crying. 
I cleared my throat to help ease the tension in the room, “So…When can I see him?” I said at the heavy seat man. 
He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes, “Damn, makes me think of my granddad…uh, ya, well the hospital wants to do an autopsy and determine cause of death and clean him up so you can dress him up for the funeral,” he paused a moment thinking, “Around 2 days? If that.” He finished with a shrug.
“Would it be ok if I left his truck here for a bit?” I asked as I looked at Twilight.
“Sure, I’ll just have someone fallow you up to your place when the funeral is over. Sound good?”
“Ya,” I replied darkly. “Oh, and by the way, thanks for coming down here. I know you were kind of pissed at me, but it didn’t feel right telling you what happened and you have that long drive ahead.” He said with concern. I nodded, not taking my eyes of the letter. I sat a moment, blank and silent, and then I got up, stretched and turned around to walk out. 
“Hey Andy,” he said stopping me.  “I’m, so sorry, about all of this…Just, be careful going home.”
“I will… Come on Twilight, let’s go home.” I replied looking over at the sad purple mare.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked, “I’m ganna go home…” I finished dryly. I heard a long deep sigh from behind as we walked out. I walked back down the short narrow hallway, heading for the entrance. The desk clerk was gone. Good, fucking bitch. I moved the door away and continued walking, it wasn’t until we were damn near to the truck, the cool night air and stars only light, was when a voice stopped me.
“Why did you lie? He could of helped find those humans who did that your grandpa. Why?” Twilight asked in hushed tones as we continued walking towards my truck. “Wow, nothing gets passed you.” I said with a smirk. I took at deep sigh and explained. “Ya I know them. Kameron and his little brother, old friends of mine…” I paused a moment when we got to the truck. “I lied to him, because I have my own idea about justice, and they wouldn’t like the way I do things.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked in an innocent voice. I looked around, “Please…Get in the truck…” I said flatly, as I opened the door. She looked at me worriedly and carefully levitated herself inside to the passenger seat with me behind her jumping up into the driver seat. I fished around for my keys and found them relatively quickly, I jammed the keys in the ignition and I paused, I just stared down at the steering wheel thinking, trying to absorb everything that had just happened. I wanted to cry, scream, punch…kill, anything that would make everything right again. But I knew that nothing would be right again…ever. 
I was snapped back to reality by a hoof on my knee. I looked up to see a half smiling, teary eyed Twilight looking at me.
“It’s not your fault Andy.”
“Maybe if I went with him…maybe if…” I tried to find something I could have done, something…anything.  “There was nothing you could have done, from the sounds of it, it was just his time.”
“NOTHING?! I was an M.P. and part of a Special Forces unit in the military…I could of done something.” I said agitated. She said nothing, but simply brought a hoof to my face and made me face her. “Then, let’s fix this and bring those humans to justice, together.” I smiled a bit at that. “Thanks Twilight, but that is exactly what I’m going to do. You, I’m taking you back to the farm.”
“What! Why?”
“Because, you don’t need to be in the middle of this and see what I’m about to do…no, not another.”
“But…but my magic could be useful, I...I...” She said hurt. “It might be, but what im going to do you don’t need to be around it, let alone see it.” I replied darkly.
“What do you mean?” she asked worriedly, I thought a moment. “You want to help?..Fine.”I said quickly so she wouldn’t pry into it too much. She brightened up a bit. “But, You will do what I say when I say, without question, understand?” she looked at me with confusion then just nodded. 
“Good, now it’s pretty late so why don’t we just find a hotel and crash for the night.”
“Sounds good to me.” Twilight replied with a half grin. “Alright let’s go.” Turning the key and starting the truck caused a small smirk to form on my face.
As we pulled out of the parking lot, I began looking for that convenience store, I know I’ve seen it before, but where… We pulled out and started down the road and it wasn’t that long, maybe 5 minutes and that’s when I saw it, near the edge of town. ‘That the store from the video, I know it. Now, just to find a hot… oh hey, that’s convenient.’ Just down the block, a few building down and across the street was a small looking building that said ‘HOTEL’ on a small illuminated sign. 
I eyed the store as we drove by it, seeing a blown out window and a small dried, half ass cleaned, pool of blood…Yep, that the store alright. As we passed it, I began to slow down to turn into the hotel. As we turned into the small parking lot, I could see the hotel.
It was a Skinny, long, short building with maybe 6 or 8 rooms. It was pretty run down and old,  and it looked like the main office were you check in was turned into a small house that branched off of the other rooms. I found a spot to park in front of the main office. ‘I hope someone’s there, considering how late it is.’
I turned off the truck and we jumped out and headed towards the door to the office. As I opened the door, there was a door chime and the sound of a small dog barking as we entered. The small house looked fairly new, it was clean and had a small desk and cash register on the right. Around us were many pictures of random people old and new, I assumed this was this person’s family. The house looked very…feminine. After a moment, I heard the shuffling of quick, small, footsteps. A light came on and in the doorway to another room stood a very small, fragile looking old lady.
Her hair was a frizzed white and in a bun. She wore glasses, a long tan nightdress and had wrinkles on her wrinkles. She looked at me and stopped, she stared at me a while as if trying to figure who I was. She looked familiar to me as well, but I couldn’t place her. She shook her head and moved behind the small desk, I walked up to it and answered her unasked question. “We need a room for two for the night.”
She wrote something down and looked up from her glasses and looked around. She then caught eye of the small purple unicorn mare standing next to me. She saw Twilight and stared, not saying a word. She looked to me and I just smiled widely, imagining what she was thinking. She shook her head and handed me a key. It had a piece of paper zip-tied to it. “6B?” I said looking at her with question. Without looking at me she spoke, “Outside, to the right, 5th door. It’ll say 6B, its 19 dollars for one night.”
“Right, thanks.” I gave the lady a 20 and turned around to head out the door, not caring about change. We got outside and headed down the rows of doors, we found our room and I used the key and walked in.
It was a small blank, depressing looking room with one large bed in the room. It had a small bathroom and stand up shower in the back, a small counter top with a radio and a lamp on it and…that was it. The light grey paint that gave the room its, someone’s died here before feeling, was cracked and chipping in places. There was strange stains near the front door and gave me the feeling that this room hasn’t had much up keep, let alone cleaned in a few years. Judging by the amount of dust on the windows, I was right. ‘No wonder the rooms are so fucking cheap.’ I thought to myself.
“Ahhh, I told her a room for two, maybe she…” I face palmed, ‘Weird old lady.’
“Were will I sleep?” Twilight asked far too cute for her own good.
“You can sleep on the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor next to you. I have a sleeping bag in the truck I can use.”
“Are you sure, I can...”
“Yes,” I said butting in, reassuring her. “Besides, I’ve got to run across the street and buy some chew, almost out.” I said holding my near empty can in the air and tapping it, making a hollow sound.
“Well ok.” She replied yawning and jumping onto the bed. “You ganna crash?”
“Yes, I’m quite tired.”
“Alright, well I’ll be back soon, I’ll take the key so don’t open the door for anyone.” 
“Ok,” she yawned as she crawled under the blankets and got comfortable. I chuckled as I walked outside, locking the door behind me. I took a deep breath as the cool night air hit me and the dim light of the moon shine on me. ‘Now, to get my chew and take care of some…Investigation work.’ I thought to myself with an evil grin. ‘Where else better to start, then the scene of the crime.’ I turned and spotted the convince center down the street. I took another breath and started walking.
All the while I was walking I was thinking deeply, trying to put the puzzle pieces together. The clerk on the video, I know he looks familiar, but…where have I seen him before, I know him. I know I do. My thoughts were cut short as I entered the parking lot. The building was a small corner store that looked like it was made out of wood. It had to large windows that looked into it but one was bordered up.  I stopped, thinking it through. ‘Now, I’m ganna have to get rid of that camera, where is…no, fucking, way…’ as I looked, in front of me facing the other direction, was the most jerry rigged camera I’ve ever seen. It was a basic video camera on a tripod that was duct taped to one of the pillars of the gas pump station. It was only about 7 feet up, just enough that I could reach it. I looked and saw the lens cap was still hanging. “Dumbass...” I thought aloud.
I reached up and put the lens cap on the camera so that what I was about to do, no one would see. I chuckled as I began my way to the front door. ‘Too easy’ I thought as I walked over broken glass and eyeing the cleaned pool. I saw that the once shattered window was boarded up and had plastic on it. 
I reached for the door slowly looking for the clerk in the video, a very old, normal sized, man. As I opened the door and entered, I saw him putting things back up on their shelves at the end of one of the isles. The inside of the store was a simple setup, small, maybe 4 rows of isles and a refrigerated section in the back. To my right was the check register counter. As the sad looking man turned to pick something up, I saw his nametag and memories of that, snake flooded my brain. ‘I was right. Hard to imagine forgetting someone like that in just under 5 years. ’ 
He heard me enter and greeted me. “Evening, how are you tonight?”
“Can’t complain,” I replied, a large evil grin forming on my face. “How can I help ya?” The man asked.  “You?...” I began, “Ha,…I need some chew and some information.” I said lowly.
“Really, well what kind?” he asked as he walked behind the counter. “Just Copenhagen long cut.” Then, there was a weird silence.
“Well, I can get your chew, but information… I know about as much as anyone else. Can’t help you.”
“Oh really?” I said raising an eyebrow, “Come on Richard, I know you recognize me, you’ve always been a good snake…never could keep your mouth shut. So how about it, for old times’ sake?”
“Excuse me?!”
“Oh come now, you and I both know you have always been gossip central for this town, you’re like a farmers facebook, getting all the dirt from people who come and go.”
“I..I really don’t know what you’re talking about…Andy.” He said my name with hesitation. “Maybe a few years ago, but this town has gotten much bigger then what it used to be.” I wasn’t getting anywhere, and it was starting to piss me off.  ‘Now I try my way. Ill get the pig to squeal.’ I thought.
He reached up and set the can on the table that I asked for and spoke. “That’ll be Three Twenty…” was all he could get out before I punched him squared in the face, cutting him off midsentence. The connection of my fist to his face was greeted with the sweet sound of a large “CRACK!” and the blood form an exploded nose, and possibly some teeth.
He reeled back, blood pouring from his nose like a fountain, staining his shirt. “Wha…What the FUCK you crazy bastard!?” He choked out. I began laughing and my grin spread wider.  “CRAZY!? HA…maybe…Then all the better to listen to what I have to say and follow directions, huh?”
“YOU MOTHER FUCKER!” he yelled as he tried to reach over the counter to hit me. His old, slow swing was easy to block. I moved his arm to the side and used his own momentum against him and pulled up onto the counter, belly up. In a swift motion before he could move I pulled my pocket knife out, unfolded it and set it to his throat. 
“You know,” I began calmly, “I know Millions of ways to kill someone….Guess which Number this is?” My face was beginning to hurt from the sheer smile on my face.
“Ok…Ok..Take whatever you want, I…”He began carefully. “SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” I yelled, pressing the blade harder to his throat as I moved in closer, my mouth next to his ear. “Now, I’m going to ask a question, you have one chance. If you get it wrong or deceive me, I’ll gut you like a turkey dinner and mail your skin to your children…Got it?” He nodded slowly, tears swelling in his eyes. “But, if you get it right, and tell me the truth…no harm will come to you or your family. Think of it like a game show, and I’m the host.” I chuckled at the thought of me having a game show. “Speaking of which, how is Karol?” He didn’t answer…
“I ASKED YOU A FUCKING QUESTION.” I yelled into his ear, “…It’s impolite to ignore someone.” 
“She’s good. She’s good.” He whispered out. “Good. See, now you’re getting it...”
I took a deep breath to clear my head from the funnies and began. “Well of course you know my grandfather who died…here..  Plus I saw that Kameron and his little brother Chris are in town again…my question to you is, where, are they?” He paused thinking; an eerie silence creping over… I was impatient. “I did forget to mention a time limit to answers…5…4...” I whispered as I pressed the blade harder with every passing number causing a small nick a bit of blood to appear. “…3…2..”
“OK. OK. OK…I.. uh.. last I heard was that they were back in town because of some money troubles. They tried to find a place to stay but couldn’t…rumor has it, they made a deal with the new supermarket owner and they are staying in the basement or storage.. I SWEAR THAT ALL I KNOW…please..” he replied quickly in tears, lip quivering.
I paused a moment, “You know what… I believe you; you live, for now…Congratulations, you win.” I replied, easing my grip and putting the knife away. He shot straight up and backed into the corner, fear and nervousness in his eyes so powerful I swear I could smell it… I loved it.
I grinned and put both hands on the table, “So, about that chew…”
“Here take it…it’s uhh…on the house.” He said throwing me the can, looking scared beyond belief. “Awe why thank you, you’re so generous.” I gave a wink and turned around to begin walking, I stopped when I reached the door.
“Oh and Richard.. You really should get better surveillance on this place. With all the Blind spots and that half ass camera, something could happen to you and no one would know.” I emphasized with a fake frowny face, and then began laughing hysterically. “OH, and get yourself cleaned up, you look like 10 pounds of ass stuffed in a 5 pound sack. We want to look presentable don’t we?” 
“I’ll get right on that.” He said, giving me a thumbs up. I chuckled as I watched him scramble to clean up the blood from the counter and his self.
I walked out feeling good…strong. ‘I have gone crazy…haven’t I?’ I smiled at the thought and started walking back towards the hotel. 
I got there fairly quickly and fished out the key in my pocket, I opened the door and quietly stepped in, as I shut the door and locked it, I face palmed. ‘I forgot to grab my fucking sleeping bag.’ I took a deep breath and yawned, not realizing how tired I actually was.
I walked next to the bed that Twilight was sleeping on and sat down on the floor next to her. I laid down and folded my arms behind my head as a pillow and gently closed my eyes. I was asleep quickly, looking forward for tomorrow and curious for what nightmare will haunt my mind tonight…
	
> Chapter 4-Snapped
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4- Snapped
I’m not sure where I am or if I’m dreaming or not, its dark and I can’t see a thing. A flash and I’m in my military fatigues walking through a deserted looking town. It’s hot, dry, I’m very nervous for some reason and the air stinks. Around me are old stone buildings and makeshift house or huts, with strange writing on them that I can’t understand. Across the street is a woman, I see her and she sees me. She’s sitting down outside at a table which I assume is a restaurant. All of a sudden there are many people around me, strange looking people wearing robes and towels on their heads. The large crowds make me nervous and I reach for my hip to be sure that my side-arm is there. The cold metal against my fingers help me relax, somewhat.
I get across the street; weaving in and out through the crowd of people as they gave me dirty looks, make me feel even more uncomfortable. I reached the woman and greet her with a smile and a wave; she matches my grin and waves me over… I’m happy, all cares wiped from my mind as I look at her. I walk to the table and sit down with her. Now, I see her for who she truly is an angel. Her beautiful blue eyes, bright blonde hair, her perfect body, and her flawless skin shinning in the bright desert sun. 
I look from her face to her body, she pregnant. She leans in and kisses me, her lips on mine, just felt right. Butterflies crawled in my stomach making me light headed. I close my eyes to truly enjoy the intense moment…I love this woman. I feel her lips move away and I open my eyes to the sound of gun fire, the sounds of explosions, and screaming. My eyes dart to see some laying dead in the street and others a bloody mess, trying to do what they can to get to safety. As I look towards the woman across the table, I see a bloody disfigured mess covered in shrapnel. Half of her head missing and her organs spread across the table showing the unborn child. I look to myself covered in blood and brain matter, my left arm and chest burning in pain. I reach for my side arm and stand up in a shock…it’s not there. I look up in just enough time to see large shadowy figure on top a building, pointing a dull black, long object in my direction. I knew exactly what it was, I’m trying to move, but I can’t… my boots are melted to the ground. I hear the unmistakable “whoosh” of an RPG. I look up in time to see a rocket and smoke trial heading right for me. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, I merely braced for impact. 
It hit right next to me with an ear splitting explosion and sent me flying with an immense pain across my face. Everything goes black again. As light fades to dark the only thing audible was a blood curtailing female scream. The scream sounded familiar… too familiar as if it were an annoying song you were trying to scrape from your mind. As the yell echoed through my mind, it began to turn into a single long, high pitched beep. It soon turned into an obnoxious slow beep… “Beep…Beep,”… “Beep…Beep…Beep.”… The sound slowly faded away, and then I woke up… 
I woke up in a panic, in a cold sweat. I sat up straight looking around taking in my surroundings, realizing it was just another nightmare… ‘That one, again?’ I thought, taking in slow deep breaths trying to calm down.  My memories began to trickle back, who I am, where I am, and what I’m doing... I touched the side of my face and my eye feeling the long directional scar, a twinge of pain and anger as I brushed it.  I took a deep breath and ran my hand across my face, wiping the sweat from my forehead and face. I stood up and I could still here the high pitched beeping. I looked to my wrist to find my alarm had gone off. “Beep…Beep...” It read 6:00 am. I quickly pressed the button to turn off the annoying sound. I made my hand into the shape of a gun and pressed my finger to my forehead, “Get out of there...” I said to no one in particular.
‘The lobby better have some fucking coffee...’ I thought to myself. I looked to the bed remembering the small purple mare. I watched her in silence for a moment, she looked so peaceful, so, carefree. I looked outside and saw what looked to be a ghost town… no sounds, no cars moving, no noise. I saw a bit of frost on the window and on the ground. I threw on a jacket and got ready to walk outside quietly as to not wake up Twilight. I reached for the door when I heard the sound of movement; I looked to see Twilight tossing in her bed. “..Mmmm. Big Macintosh…” Twilight mumbled in her sleep. I just chuckled, ‘Big Macintosh... but that’s a… maybe one of her friends…odd name.’ I thought to myself. I unlocked the door and closed it softly behind me as I exited. I hurried over to the lobby, it felt quite chilly this morning and it was still dark. I hurried in through the door and was greet with the smell of coffee.
“Ahh...” I said aloud with satisfaction.
“Well good morning.” Said a female voice from another room. “Morning.” I replied politely, not sure if someone was talking to me or someone else. “Would you like some coffee? Just made it!”
“Yes please ma’am.” I replied, still not sure if she was talking to me or not. “Ok, I even made it extra strong for ya.”
I was still looking around to see if I could see her. “Me, why?” I asked slightly confused. 
“Well, I know you farming types when I see ‘em… especially you Andy.” I was taken aback by that. 
“How do ya know my name?”
“Silly, everyone round’ here knows ya.” She said as she appeared out from around the corner holding 2 cups of coffee. A small fragile looking lady stood as she handed a cup to me. I took it and drank a small sip…Yep, finally real coffee. The lady just stood there, staring at me looking familiar until finally she spoke. “You go the look of death in your eyes son, who pissed you off?”  She asked concerned. 
“That easy huh?” I said a bit embarrassed. “No, but to an old lady who’s seen it before its easy… last time I saw them eyes, my best friend slaughtered 6 people.” She finished sadly. “Holy shit…Only 6?”  I said jokingly, the old lady caught on and laughed a little. 
“It’s funny, because as fast as news travels here…pretty sure you already know who.” I replied a bit cockily. “Indeed I do young one. Gossip travels fast those with an ear to the wind…”
“Yes it does...” I replied, finally remembering who she was. “Emerald!! My old school teacher!! How are ya?” I asked. “Much better then you obviously.” She said with a laugh. I chuckled a bit, at her sense of humor. 
Then she looked at me seriously. “Between you and me…” she began, paused and leaned in closer. I bent over a bit so I could listen “...When you find them little bastards, you fuck ‘em up good for me after what they did to your pappy.” I grinned an evil smile, 
“Oh, I will, trust me.” I replied darkly. “Good! Now get going so you can go kick some ass.” She said loudly, lightly smacking me in my chest. 
“Yes ma’am.” I said seriously, giving a salute. I broke my seriousness and we both laughed. She left the room to go do…something, and I quickly drank down my coffee and headed back to the room. 
I quickly came in running and jumped in the air landing on the bed with a loud “BELLY-FLOP!!” Twilight woke up frightened. “Ahhh…oh... Morning Andy.” She said groggily. “Morning Twilight. We got to get moving were burning daylight.” I replied cheerfully, crawling off the bed. Twilight got up and looked outside. “But it’s not even daylight yet.  It’s still…ugh, now you’re reminding me of Pinkie Pie.” She said agitated. This made me remember something, 
“Heeey Twilight?” She looked at me as she fixed her “bed head” with her magic; I almost got the hint of a glare for a moment.  “Who’s Big Macintosh?” I asked smirking. Twilight jumped, quick to respond. “What? Oh... Uhh... just a friend, yes! Friend. I have lots of friends.” She replied stammering and a nervous laugh. Her cheeks were burning crimson. Snickering…“Oh, ok. I believe you.”
“Why do you ask?” she asked. “Oh no reason, just heard you say it in your sleep.”
“Oh…uhhh…” she replied embarrassed. A familiar growling and bubbling noise broke the awkwardness. “Ya, I’m hungry too.” I said looking at my own stomach. 
“Do you know of any good restaurants?” the young mare asked. I laughed for a bit, “Ya, that’ll go over bout as well as a pregnant pole vaulter.” Twilight just looked at me, “Yes, you do have a point. From what you’ve told me about humans it wouldn’t go so good.” She said, looking disappointed. “Pregnant pole… I swear, you’re just so random at times.”
“Ya, well… Oh I know why don’t we stop at the super market and get ya some food?” I asked as Twilight lighted up a bit. “Sure, sounds great!”
“Well, come on let’s go!” I said gesturing to the door. She nodded and Twilight and I raced outside and towards the truck, giggling and laughing. The moment we made it, we jumped in and I started the truck. I gave the pedal a few healthy stomps making the engine roar. I had a mile long grin looking at Twilight. She had a raised eyebrow as if concerned. I just chuckled and put the truck in gear. I looked to Twilight, “Hey, watch this.” I said with a smirk.
I held the brake with one foot while bringing up the engines RPM’s with my other foot until I felt that “sweet spot”. I dumped the brake and mashed the gas pedal causing the tires to screech and scream, soon there was smoke from burning rubber, I just grinned as the smoke got thicker and thicker. I left off the pedal just a bit to grab traction; we left like a bat out of hell, leaving two black streaks on the ground from where we parked, to the street. As we drove away, I turned to look and saw that the smoke was so thick you couldn’t see the motel from the road. 
I just laughed as Twilight was waving a hoof in front of her face, “I love the smell of burnt rubber in the morning! WHOO!” I yelled, I think Twilight said something but I couldn’t hear her over the thunderous roar of the engine. I eased off the gas to cruise the speed limit and Twilight as usual, was watching out the window, watching lights, buildings, and looking for people and other vehicles. ‘She is going to have one hell of a research paper once she gets back…if she gets back.’ I thought. ‘Eventually she will see through the face your putting on, and see that your hurt...’ I continued thinking to myself.
In no time at all, we were approaching “Riddle’s”, Pinedale’s supermarket. I could see it as we drove into the huge parking lot. It was a wide, long building, not very tall and it had a plastered of a giant fish on the side of the building above the front entrance. I drove through the parking lot trying to find a parking spot just big enough to park the old truck. I finally found one near the tail end, as I whipped in I could see people staring, not at me, but at Twilight. “Now, remember what I said, no talking and no magic.” I said, serious now. She nodded as I continued, “Oh, and you might want to stay here, I don’t think they will let you in the store.”
“What?! Why not?”
“Well, like I said before, people think of ‘ponies’ as animals, and like the lady at police station, must humans don’t like animals inside their buildings.” I replied trying to explain.
“Oh… well, you don’t see me like that do you?” she asked, putting on the cutest damn face I ever saw.
“Of course not Twilight, if it was up to me I’d let you use magic and talk to everyone and go in all of the stores. But sadly, the world I live in isn’t as understanding as the one you come from… I’m sorry.” Felling somewhat ashamed, “I just don’t want anything to happen to you, your special and I would hate for the government to get a hold of you...Fucking government.” She brightened up a bit at that, “Well, I may not understand your ways, but I trust you. But, I still don’t think it is fair.” 
I looked at her and grinned as I turned off the truck. “Me either, but that’s just how humans are, not all, but most.” I said as she continued to pout. 
Trying to cheer her up, “Don’t worry, well get you home soon and you never have to see this horrible place again.” 
“Your planet is actually quite nice, it’s just the…Humans in it, that I am starting to dislike.”
“Ha, welcome to my world!” I said sarcastically. I ran my hand through her mane messing it up and hoped out of the truck. “I’ll be back in a few.” She nodded and gave me a grin which I returned. I shut the door and turned to walk towards the store. 
As I was walking, I was admiring the sunrise, it had just begun to peek and was spraying colors into the sky, and was beginning to feel the air to start to warm around me. Then, my mind jumped and I thought of the letter my grandpa wrote and what he said about “watching the sunrise” and a growing sadness was swelling inside me that quickly turned to anger. I was so caught up in thought, I almost ran into someone, snapping me back to reality. 
As I spotted the door, I rounded into the supermarket and sighed, looking around and observing the building. Almost instinctively I found all the exits around me. “Ugh… I hate cities…and crowds…and people…and..” I thought aloud, perhaps louder than I thought. 
I wasted no time, I quickly walked to the produce isles, looking around for something Twilight and I could both eat without it being weird, like her asking what KFC was. As I got to the fruits and veggies isles, I really couldn’t think of anything specific that Twilight would like. She’s always asking me questions, talking about her friends, her books, and books. In all reality, I don’t know a whole lot about HER other than what she told me when she first got here. I don’t even know her favorite color or food. That’ll change real quick.
I thought a moment, staring at all the produce in front of me. ‘Well, she’s a vegetarian I know that much.’ I thought ‘Oh fish! Wait… that’s meat too. Damn, think green Andy.’ I couldn’t think of really anything, so I just grabbed a couple bags and went down the aisles. I saw some good looking Gala Apples and threw them in a bag along with a few carrots and celery stocks. I moved to the other table and filled the rest of my little bags with lettuce and some cabbage. As I spun the bags and tied them, I was looking around for the manager.
‘He’s the key if I want to find them boys.’ After I finished tying off the bags, I walked to one of the registers, all the way looking for someone who struck me as “manager.” I put my groceries on the counter and the young lady weighed them and typed things into a computer looking thing. ‘Maybe, but she’s probably jail bait.’ I thought looking her up and down. She struck me as very young, maybe 18. She was very pretty, and tall with red hair and hazel eyes. She was dressed in a uniform of sorts that really showed off her….face.   
She was scanning the carrots while she spoke. “So you a vegetarian?” I raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, might as well just tell her the truth and it’s for Twilight.’ I thought. I grinned knowing how this was going to end. “Nope, it’s for my friend Twilight Sparkle who a purple, magical unicorn from outer space.” She stopped and stared at me a moment, her face looking puzzled. ‘Yep, just as I thought.’
“Oookai…” she said nervously, “That will be $10.25.”
“Ok, but first, I would like to speak with your manager.” Serious now, she stared a moment, 
“Sure, whatever.” As she turned around, I was begging to think this was going a little easy. Not that I was complaining, but something just seemed off here. Nothing was ever easy for me.
As I let my mind wonder while I waited, I found myself staring at some poster on the wall advertising for some new movie. I couldn’t make out the words but it was a dark colored picture and had a little girl in a tattered night dress kneeling down. Her hair was covering her face in a messy ‘been through hell’ kind of way. I assumed it was for a new horror movie. ‘And people call me crazy?’ then it got me thinking, ‘when was the last time I saw a movie, or a TV for that matter? A year or so?’ I shrugged, not really caring. 
My train of thought was cut short as I saw the clerk walking back towards me with a young man in a suit with slick hair. He was tall and had a very round face for such a skinny body. He definitely stuck me as the managing type. He also stood out as a very successful person. The way he walked, smiled, and dressed were all tell tale signs. He wore a cocky grin like most business types do. That is until he got closer to me, eyes locked and grin fading to a more serious look. As he was getting closer his pace slowed down and him, now having my full attention, walked up to me with an out stretched hand for a handshake and a fake grin.
I put on my best, friendly, ‘won’t kill you’ smile and greeted him with my hand. As we were shaking hands, I tightened my grip just a bit, and before he could let go or say anything, I pulled him in close, his head next to mine. I want to try something… Still smiling, I said quickly and barely above a whisper, “Pretty sure you know who I am, and why I’m here… So why don’t we go to your office to discuss some business.” I gently pushed him away and released my grip. He stepped back, cleared his throat and spoke with a grin. “Of course, we can discuss this matter more… privately” the young man’s voice sounded rather high pitched, having a “fruity” tone to it. 
“Ya, guess we should. You lead the way” I replied, still grinning. He turned to walk and then I remembered I still had to pay for the food. I turned to the lady and gave her my money. She gave me the change and I walked to the manager, “Ready?” I said gesturing with a hand. He simply turned and started walking towards the back of the building. I followed him close in toe while observing people, items, and may isles we passed by. 
‘This must be the toy isle’ I thought as I looked at toys for small children from yo-yo’s and action figures to etch-e-sketch’s. I noticed he was walking very fast paced and we got to a door quite quickly that read “Authorized personnel only” in big while letters on a bright red sign. 
He opened the door and we entered quickly, walking down the long grey hallway with only a few doors on either side that we passed. One door caught my eye, a door with a sign that read “Basement/Storage”. I had to fight back the urge to stop, but for my plan to work and get the answers I want, I needed to follow this man. We passed my more doors and turned a few hallways until we reached a door that read “Manager” on it. He opened it and we both entered quickly. He quickly and quietly shut the door as we entered. 
This office was incredibly small, cramped and slightly depressing. It barely had enough room for the desk, and office chair and two folding chairs that took up its space. He walked to the small desk and picked up a fancy looking phone. I was confused.
“What are you doing?”
“Well, I know why you’re here.” He replied between a sigh, “So I’ll save you the trouble and call the police.” He was starting to dial numbers.
‘no, no, NO, NO!’ I ran to the desk and jerked the phone from him and slammed it down, preventing him from dialing anymore numbers. He looked at me quizzically.
“You’re not a cop, are you?” he asked, I laughed a little.
“Me? No… well used to be, of sorts.”
“Wait, your Andy, that guy from the mountains.” I raised an eyebrow at that, “It seems like my reputation precedes me.”
“Yaaaa… possibly more than you know.” He said distancing himself now. I knew what he meant though, everyone thinks I’m bat-shit crazy and honestly, I don’t mind. In fact I kind of like it, It gives me a bit more leverage for getting what I need, especially now.
“So, if you’re not a cop, what do you want?”
“I want the people your hiding in your storage basement.”
“You know? Well, it is a small town… so what do you want with them?”
“Ya, I know. Can’t an old friend drop in and help out another old friend?”
“Old friend?”
“Yes, I know he’s in some trouble so I thought I’d help him out. I have a place in the mountains that he’ll be safer there than hiding in a busy supermarket basement.” I stared at him a moment and he stared back in silence. “Plus, it would really suck if you got caught up in all this…”
He stared at me in silence and moved to his chair, slumping down in it hard. He then began to start shaking, his lip quivering. ‘oh god, please don’t cry’ I thought. Tears filled his eyes and he burst out in tears and sobs. ‘Fuck, I’m not good with this shit…’ “Umm, it’s…Okay… There, there.” I said awkwardly patting his back.
“NO!! I’m happy.”
“Huh?” I said confused, “I was so worried you were a cop, I don’t want to go to Jail, I wouldn’t last two seconds. Please take them away from me; I’ll help you with whatever you need. So, please, just take them. I feel like an enemy of the state, constantly watching my back and getting nervous when I see the law, I HAVE A FAMILY… just take em’.” He replied in between sobs of joy. I couldn’t take it anymore, I started busting out laughing hysterically. After a good, long, hard laugh, I wiped a tear from my eye still chuckling a bit. “You know, you just made this a whole lot easier.”
“Huh?”
“Ya, I thought you were going to be some hardass, know it all guy, and I was going to have to beat you, cut you, do some of my favorite Russian tactics and threaten you with your family. But, I don’t have to do that now, my whole afternoon just freed up. So thank you.” I finished with a grin. “Umm, you’re welcome?”
“Very well, now listen up, and listen up good, because I’m only going to say this once.”
“Okay.”
“I need you to let them know who I am and that I’m going to help them. They will know me, I want you to move them to the loading dock and that’s where I’ll meet them. I want this to be quick. And no one, I repeat no one knows of this conversation or this meeting you and I are having, and no one ever will. Understand?” I said sternly, trying to get across how serious this is. 
“Ok, but what if they don’t believe me or listen to me, they’re not exactly nice to me.” He replied with a frown. I chuckled at a funny memory. “Tell him, if he doesn’t listen to you, I’m going to find that Asian hooker with the purple strap on he was so fond of.” He looked at me strangely, “Just tell him, alright.”
“Okay.”
“Well… what are you waiting for? GO! I’ll be around back in 5 minutes, don’t keep me waiting… It would be in your best interest to be on time.” I said darkly, “Okay, will do.” He replied, walking quickly out the door and down the hallway.
As I watched him leave I took a deep breath thinking that I was about to break my number one moral code… ‘Is it worth it? Just for some revenge?’ I thought, “… OF COURSE IT IS!” I said aloud, chuckling. “But, after this…” I replied, as I continued to talk to myself, “No more, what would grandpa think of me lying like this… he would understand, wouldn’t he? Well, it’s different, these people deserve it…” I guess I would never know, but whatever the answer may be, I need to get going, crazy can wait.
I proceeded to walk quickly out the door and down the hallway, retracing my steps as I left. I quickly found the toy isle again on my way out. As I looked towards the front of the store, I saw many people, children, families. A newborn baby’s face reflected by the bright suns glare. ‘Babies… Babies and animals, the only true, pure, beings on this planet.’ My thoughts were interrupted by almost running into a man holding the door open for a young lady. “Damn, I got to stop doing that..” I said to myself, ‘what being crazy?’ “No, I aint crazy…. Wait… Fuck.” I replied face palming. ‘I’m arguing with myself… of course.’ Like I said, crazy can wait… 
I left the building, walking back towards the truck, I was walking faster then I realized as I reached the truck in record time, almost passing it. I opened the door, groceries in hand and jumped in expecting an ass ripping from Twilight for taking so long. But she just looked at me.
“What took you so long Andy? I thought you said you would be right back?”
“Ya, I know, sorry I got caught up talking to someone.” I replied. “Oh. Old friend?”
“Eh, not really.” I finished as I found my keys. “Twilight, I found the robbers.” She gasped at that, “Oh my gosh, that fantastic we…” 
“Twilight,” I interrupted, “Remember what I said about my justice? My way? ”
“Yes, I...”
“Well, I’m going to give them a ride, and give them justice my way, but they just don’t know it yet.”
“But, why don’t we...”
“Twilight… please this is something I just need to do, please… for my grandpa.”  I said almost pleadingly. Twilight looked at me and sighed, “Very well, I don’t understand your reasoning, or why, but if this is something you truly feel you have to do, then I’ll help you how I can.”
I smiled, “Thank you Twilight, and yes… I have to do this.” She matched my smile as I started the truck. 
“I assume the no talking rule also?” Twilight said, catching the hint of sarcasm and annoyance in her voice. I thought about it a moment. “I don’t see why you can’t talk to these people.” I replied. Her face lit up, “Really?”
“Ya, why not? These people aren’t going to say anything.”
“How do you know?” She asked with a cock of her head. I gave a dark smile, “Because… I know.”
“Well, ok.” She said with a smile. “Yes, but you just can’t talk to them about justice, the robbery or my grandpa, deal?” I said strictly. She was practically shinning at this point. “Deal!” 
“Good, now, let’s go pick em up… Oh, and I didn’t know what you wanted, so I just got a little bit of everything” I said as I handed her the bag with all the veggies and fruits in it. She quickly dug in and began eating on some carrots and apples. I grabbed a delicious looking apple and began eating on it.
I started the truck, threw it in gear and began moving the large beast around the building towards the loading dock. I looked over to see the young mare practically bouncing in her seat as she ate, anxious to meet new humans, and actually talk to these ones. A quick minute and I found the loading dock and began to pull up.
No one was there, the door wasn’t up….were running late. “They were supposed to meet me here, where the fuck are they?”
“Maybe they have a lot of thing to pack.” 
“Well, they shouldn’t have to pack anything, it should have been a snatch and grab…now the only thing we can do is sit and wait.” We sat in silence, anxiously waiting for someone, something, some kind of sign that someone was coming out. ‘Did that fucker rat me out? Did he set me up?’ I thought. ‘No… he was far too happy to get rid of those guys.’ 
We waited for about 20 minutes and its shit like this that bring out my paranoia. They always say someone who’s paranoid is crazy, but when something happens and their ready, people call them geniuses. Funny how people think huh? 
My train of thought was cut short as I saw the large door move, then in a rush, the large door flew open about eight feet. The people I saw standing there made my blood boil. Memories of the video flashed in my mind.
I took a deep breath, tried to calm myself and put on a face. I have to stay under control if this is going to work, I’m so close, but still have a lot of work ahead of me.  Kameron and his twin brother, walking towards the truck. Kameron, a small red-head, about 5’6 tall and his brother, Chris, who was just a hair taller than him. And if I remember right, they are only a few hours apart, with Kameron being the oldest.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, Kameron killed my grandfather not Chris. Well what kind of person would I be to keep family apart? I chuckled at that thought… he will soon realize what it’s like to have the most important thing in your life and the only thing left in your life, taken away… Chris is all he’s got left… my grandpa was all I had… my train of thought was once again cut short at the sound of a finger tapping on my window.
I looked but only saw the top of some red hair. I laughed as I opened the door. I stepped out and standing before me was my grandpa’s killer, but I had to keep it together. So I smiled and hugged him like nothing was wrong. “God damn! What took you so long?” I asked.
Kameron looked at me and laughed under his breath. “Well, at first I didn’t believe him, I thought he was setting us up. Then he talked about that Russian whore, and I knew it had to be you.”
“HA! Yaaa, would you of believed him otherwise?”
“True, you do have a point.” He finished, embarrassment showing on his face.
I looked around, “Where’s Chris?” He looked at me and without saying anything he just pointed towards the other side of the truck. I looked over the hood of the truck and saw Chris. He was standing outside near the passenger window and just staring at Twilight. He turned at me and waved, I waved back and smiled. 
I turned back to see Kameron staring at me with concern. “What’s with the fucking purple unicorn in the front seat?”
“Eh, I’ll explain that later, but let’s load up and get the hell out of here; we’ve already been here too long.”
“I agree, let’s go, but where are you letting us stay?” he asked as he jumped in the truck crawled to the backseat, followed by his brother. I jumped in and shut the door. “My place…” I said flatly. “Really? You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to your farm.”
“Really?” I said, starting to drive off. “…how about that…”
We made our way through the parking lot and turned to start our way back to the farm. We were on the main road when I caught Twilight staring at me nervously, as if know what she was thinking, I nodded and smiled. The mare moved to look at our new passengers. I chuckled and thought, ‘This should be good.’ “Hey Twilight, why don’t you introduce yourself?” at this point I was cracking up on the inside, ‘This is going to be hilarious.’ I thought. I looked at the rearview mirror to see our passengers, who weren’t paying much attention. 
“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, who are you?” You could of heard a pin drop, the only sound was of the engine and my light chuckles. “Well, don’t be rude, answer her.” I said with an amusing grin. Kameron and Chris where both stammering and tripping over their tongues. 
“I.. I’m Kameron, and this is my…uh.. little brother Chris…” he said, baffled and confused. Twilight simply looked at me and coked her head. “You got to remember sug, unicorns and magic are considered folk tale around here, especially talking ones.” “Oh… right, well at least they took it took it better than you did when you met me.” I started laughing, “I think it’s because there’s nowhere to run. HA!’ 
I heard shuffling in the back seat, I turned to see Kameron asking a question with his face. “Ya, she real, technically she’s an alien from a world filled with others like her… oh, and she can do magic, real magic, none of that David Copperfield shit.” 
“Right…” he said scooting closer towards Twilight. “Maybe your not as crazy as we all thought..”
Twilight looked at me and giggled, “Why does everypony…err, everyone you know think you’re crazy?”
“Honestly? I haven’t the slightest clue.” I replied
“Who.. Andy? HA! Shit, I remember the time when me and him snuck into the bar and that guy was talking shi…”
“NO Kameron!” I said abruptly cutting him off from telling any embarrassing, scary, incriminating, or downright scarring stories. “She’s pure; I don’t want my stories or this world corrupting her more than it already has.” I finished as I glared at him through the mirror. 
“Nope.. Still crazy, going on and on with that Native American and ‘the world is un-pure’ shit… but alright, I won’t scar her.” I just nodded. “Still, good to see you again buddy,” he finished. 
I simply nodded again and reached for the radio and turned it on. ‘Yes Kameron, if only you knew.’ I thought as we made our way back to the farm. Cruising down the long twisting and winding road, that was the back country. ‘if only you knew what I was thinking, if only you knew of the ways I was thinking of killing you, making you suffer, the way my mind was taking in your screams from the near future. So wonderful… so clueless.’
Then I had a thought, a brilliant plan. A plan that would give leeway for things if something went wrong or astray. Yes, the perfect plan. Dad always said, plan for the worst and hope for the best. So as we made our way down the road, my mind was engulfed in planning, thinking, and acting out in my head every possible situation with multiple solutions and outcomes. The hundreds of ways that I could make him suffer, and scream… bloodlust…. That’s what I had.
The drive was relatively quite aside from Twilight bombarding Kameron and Chris with questions. When we hit the bottom of the mountain the sky was near high and bright. I looked at my watch, noon… ‘Perfect,’ I thought ‘right on schedule.’ As we made our way up the mountain, getting closer and closer to our destination, my thoughts were racing and my grin was getting wider the closer we got. My train of thought was cut short as Twilight spoke, “Finally, were here. I need to stretch my hooves.”
As I looked up I saw the ranch, oh ya, I’m home. I was so caught up in my thoughts I didn’t realize we had gone as far as we had. ‘Huh, must have been on autopilot.’ I thought chuckling to myself. I shook my head and pulled into the front near the side of the house and turned off the truck.  I looked at my watch and saw 1:30. ‘Wow, I must have been deep in thought to have dazed out like that… should I be worried?’ I thought, ‘Pfft, of course not, we are fine just like this.... wait... What? Who said that? I didn’t think that… or did I?’ now I’ve talked to myself before…. But this was different. I shook my head again and felt a hoof on my leg. I looked to see Twilight asking a question with her worried face. 
“I’m fine, just... long drive. I don’t really like going into town. ” she smiled and opened the door with her magic and jumped out. “Kameron.” I said as I turned in the seat to look at him. “Yes?”he answered raising an eyebrow.
“You sure you haven’t been to my farm?”
“No, I haven’t. I remember it was your grandpa’s, you lived closer town for school but you moved, joined the military, and no one’s really heard from ya till now.”
“Ya.. I guess you’re right.” I said jumping out of the truck, followed by Kameron and his little brother. 
“Yep, nobody really, ever heard from you for a while, and when we did, you were kind of…. Off your rocker. Well more then you usually were…by a lot.” He finished nervously. I just chuckled a bit. “Well, I’m hungry, why don’t we get thing ready so we can have some late lunch?” I said looking at Twilight. They all nodded and agreed. 
We all started walking towards the house when I turned to Kameron and Chris. “Where in the hell you going? This aint no fucking Ramada Inn, you got to work for it.” 
They both stopped and stared at each other. I laughed a bit. “Kameron, you go and milk the cows and Chris, I need you to collect the eggs from the chicken coop, and I’ll start cooking some elk steaks while Twilight gets the salad ready.” They both nodded and stared to walk off, Kameron stopped and turned. 
“Hey, I ahh… don’t know how to milk a cow.” I just smiled, “That’s alright, I’ll show you in a second. Go get a bucket and I’ll be there in a minute.” He turned and walked off with his brother, once they were out of range, I followed Twilight into the house. The moment we entered and I shut the door, I turned and spoke to the young mare. “Twilight, listen, whatever you hear, whatever you think is going on, I need you to stay in the house. Ok?” she looked at me with a tilt of her head. “Just promise me, ok? Please.” 
She took a deep breath and sighed…”Ok, I promise, Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She said putting her hoof over her eye.
“Thank you, now I’ll be back in a few, I just have to take care of a few things.” I said as I started to leave. “Andy?” Twilight said, the worry in her voice stopping me in my tracks. “They’re not going to be here for lunch… are they?”  I sighed, knowing what she meant. I’m trying to keep her from these things, not introduce her to it. “No.. They’re not, I’m going to give them justice and that will be the last you ever see of these bad people.”
“Does, justice hurt?” she asked so innocently I felt a pain in my chest. I sighed. “Sometimes…” I said feeling almost ashamed, but why? I left quickly trying to abandon those thoughts.
I started walking towards the corals and on my way I picked up a large, heavy shovel. I soon found Kameron trying to chase down a dairy cow and Chris was being chased by a rooster at the coop next to the house. “Fucking city folks,” I thought aloud as I walked up to Kameron. “You’re doing it all wrong, you got to coax her out, then take her to the milking stall.”
“Well, how in the hell do I do that?” he asked frustrated.
“Just be nice, show her that she can trust you, plus it doesn’t hurt to be good with animals or have food in your hand.”
“Ok, So where is the milking stall? And what is it?”
“A milking stall just makes it easier to milk a cow; it kind of boxes it in and cradles it so it don’t move.”
“Interesting.”
“Yes, and for your other question, it’s over here behind the shed, next to the meat locker.” I said a we walked over to the small single stall. As he was staring at the stall, I griped the shovel that I was leaning on tight. “Hey Kameron, I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh really?” he replied as he turned around. I lifted the shovel and swung it at his head as hard as I could, knocking him cold with a slight metallic “Twang”. 
I dropped the shovel and opened the door to the meat locker. Kamerons head trickling blood as I picked him up and put him inside. Once inside I found some rope and duct tape. I tied him up and taped his mouth shut. I then picked him up and hung him from a meat hook by the rope. I wiped the sweat away and walked back out, leaving my shovel and heading towards the chicken coop. 
I spotted Chris just finishing up with the eggs; somewhere he found the basket to put them in. I stopped, took a few deep, quick breaths and ran at him full speed yelling. “Chris! Chris! Come quick, he was kicked by one of the cows fell down and started going into a seizure, I need your help!” I yelled, pretending to be out of breath. He looked at me, trying to see if this was prank or not, “NOW!!” I yelled. 
That must of done it, he dropped the eggs and started running, I lead the way to the meat shed, Chris opened the door and froze to see his bloody brother, tied up, hanging from a meat hook. He turned around to say something but not a sound escaped his lips as hands grabbed his head, pulled, and twisted. A gory “Snap” was herd, like someone popping bubble wrap. He quickly fell to the ground in a heap, twitching ever so slightly. His body was face down in the dirt, but his head was turned like an owl, staring at me. I chuckled a bit, for some reason I found this funny. 
I calmed down, picked him up, and threw him in the meat locker, once in, I positioned his head to look the right way, sat him up in the corner and checked for a pulse... yep he’s dead. I stepped back and looked at my handy work, ‘if I didn’t know better, id think he was just chilling there, taking a break.’ said a voice... “HA!! Good one...” I replied and turned, but to my surprise...no one was there, "Well... its happening.. Damit. Guess its not really a surprise."
I cleaned up the blood, and shut the shed door as I walked out. As I stepped out, I looked at the cow and realized.. “Fuck,” I said aloud, “I still have to milk her… probably should have waited till after he milked her to knock him out...” 
"oh well, got to do what needs done.” I said aloud.
I sighed as I made my way to the dairy cow. After I had a big full bucket, I walked over to the basket that Chris had dropped bout an hour ago. I looked them over, “Only a few broken, that’ll do.” After all that was done I headed into the house and set the eggs and the milk on the counter near the sink. I looked to see Twilight sitting patiently at the table playing with cards. She just looked at me and smiled. “I made you a salad.”I looked to the middle of the table to see a very large salad bowl filled with a variety of vegetables and lettuce.  ‘It’ll work.. .’ I thought, ‘I’ll just cook some steaks and eggs later.’ 
“Thank you Twilight.”
“You’re welcome.”
I walked to the table and sat down across from Twilight. I grabbed the salad bowl and picked up the fork next to it and watched her play with cards in silence, as I started to eat a thought hit me.. 
“Hey Twilight.”
“Yes, Andy?” She replied looking up from her game.
“You say there are other ponies who have no magical abilities right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“And I can tell cards are a common thing on your planet, so how do ponies with no magical abilities play cards? You know, with no fingers and all.” I asked feeling a bit foolish. Twilight started at me a moment and then began giggling, and soon into laughter. After a moment of this, she calmed down and tried to speak. “Im sorry.. um.. it’s.. they just pick them up, just like you do..” she said.
“Ya, but how, without fingers?”
“They just do, It’s one of those things you know. But it’s a good subject to think on.” She replied grinning at me. I smiled back and nodded. ‘..Just one of those thing..’ I thought as I ate my salad.  
‘The salad was nice, but a steak would be awesome’. But the more I thought about it, ‘no, I don’t think I could put Twilight in that position. Her seeing me cook meat… that would almost be like me cooking another human and eating it… then again, its not like I haven’t had to do it before to survive… but that’s different’ I thought.. ‘Its..just one of those things..’